It must be Monday somewhere in the world

I think I'm approaching this blogging thing all wrong. I told you that I would post a blog every Monday and I think I've proven that I am incapable of doing that consistently. Therefore, I'm going to lower my standards a bit. From this point on I swear to post a blog every Monday unless I don't. Wow, a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I will still post weekly and I will shoot for Monday but it may just have to be Tuesday.

My darling wife is in the other room right now studying Lucia di Lammermoor and coughing up a lung. That's right, Brenda is sick. In spite of that, she has still been going to rehearsals and has actually learned the staging for most of the opera in just two days. It would be great if she could get healthy again at some point before Saturday since that is the day of the first performance. Please send some healing vibes her way.

You'll be happy to know that my allergies are under control for the most part now. The doctor gave me steroids (YAY!) which allow me to breathe almost normally. The one good thing about having allergies, though, is it means the weather is getting better. Frankfurt has been gorgeous lately. We've been getting out and taking advantage of the sunshine as much as possible. The nice weather should allow me to step up my running a bit which will, hopefully, help me drop some of this hibernating weight I picked up over the winter. Of course, my parents will be arriving in Frankfurt on Thursday which will probably cause me to put on even more winter weight in spite of the current season. It will be totally worth it, though. We can't wait to have them here.

Well, time to turn in. I've got to get my beauty sleep and Brenda has to get healthy again. I hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you next Monday(ish)!

a beer by any other name

Hey All! First things first, Brenda is back! She decided to return to Germany in spite of how much she loves New York. Of course, had the volcano in Iceland erupted a few days earlier and left her stranded in NYC, I doubt she would have complained too much. Luckily for me, though, she made it back home safe and sound and right on time. However, she did come back a little worse off than when I left her. She somehow picked up a cold in New York and when you add that to my allergy-induced wheezing and sniffling, we really make quite the snotty pair. Brenda has already been to the doctor, though, so she is on the road to recovery. My appointment is on Wednesday. I'm hoping for steroids.

The night before Brenda's return to Frankfurt, Florian invited me over for a movie and beer night. The movie: Ninja Assassins. The beer: Budweiser. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Was Ninja Assassins awesome?" Yeah, it kind of was but it was also one of the bloodiest movies I've ever seen. If you like ninjas AND blood, though, it is definitely the movie for you. You may also be thinking, "I thought you moved to Germany to drink good beer, Chad. I am ashamed of your beer choice!" Well, before you judge me too harshly, you have to know that this wasn't the Budweiser we have back in the US. This was a different beer brewed in the Czech Republic that happens to share the same name as our Budweiser back home. I would love to tell you more about it but Wikipedia does a much better job. What I will tell you, though, is that it tasted pretty good. As Florian would say, "Es geht runter und es bleibt unten" or "It goes down and it stays down."

Our friend Kris is in town at the moment. He came down from Amsterdam for an audition in Karlsruhe and we are very happy he decided to spend a few days with us. I totally blame him for this blog entry being a day late, though. It certainly couldn't be my tendency to procrastinate.

I think it's time for me to hit the hay. I will touch base with you all next Monday at which point Brenda will have started rehearsals for Lucia di Lammermoor. Until then, have a great week!

Laundry time

Hey all! I hope you had a great weekend. I am happy to report that my lovely wife will be returning to me in just a couple of days. Less than 36 hours actually. From what she's told me, it sounds like she's been having a great time in New York. She spent a few wonderful days with her parents, got lunch with my lovely aunt Ann, saw several friends and even found some time in there to have a few lessons and coachings. Now that I think about, she's having such a good time, I hope she's still planning on coming back to Frankfurt.

I have, of course, been suffering greatly since Brenda left me last Tuesday. In spite of that, however, I managed to have some fun visiting my friend Jeff over the weekend. Jeff lives in Hagen and works full-time with the opera theater there. I didn't really get to see much of Hagen this weekend, though, because Jeff was singing at a theater in Gelsenkirchen. I saw him perform in two very nice productions and also got to meet some of his friends and colleagues.

The town of Gelsenkirchen has a population of somewhere around 250,000 people. As I sat in their beautiful 1,000 seat theater, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if every town in the US with 1/4 million people had an opera house. If that were the case, our blog might be called Chenda in America. I doubt that will happen anytime soon, though. Opera houses in Germany are funded in large part by the government. That is the only way they're able to stay afloat. Opera houses in America are privately funded and, therefore, there are a lot less of them.

The train ride up to Gelsenkirchen lasted 4 1/2 hours and was quite enjoyable. The German countryside is beautiful and I always like seeing Germany's various towns and castles. I look forward to exploring even more of Germany when my parents are here in a little over 2 weeks.

I'm back in Frankfurt now and it's time to face the music. Brenda is coming back early Wednesday morning and I haven't done one bit of cleaning. I had planned on doing a little every day but I, of course, didn't and so tomorrow is the day. I will try to take some interesting pictures in the coming week so I have something for you to look at on the blog next week. Until then, have a great week!

When Brenda's away...

Hey all! Well, I'm a bachelor again. At least for the week. Brenda left me all alone in Frankfurt (with all of these dangerous Frankfurtians, I might add) and went to New York City. Brenda has a great role (Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor) coming up in May and she is going to NYC to work with her teacher. Her parents decided it would be a great opportunity to see Brenda so they are with her in NY as well. While she's away, I'm going to go up to Hagen, Germany to visit my good college friend, Jeff. He's been down to Frankfurt twice since we moved here and it's about time I go up and visit him for a change.

My last performance of Parsifal was on Monday. I must say, I really enjoyed performing the role of the 3rd squire. I had some good singing to do and I got to be on stage with some great people. It was a wonderful experience.

Frankfurt is definitely in bloom and I didn't even have to look outside to find out. All I had to do was look at the mountain of kleenex surrounding the garbage can. That's right, pollen is in the air and my allergies are going crazy. Last year, things got so bad that I had to get an inhaler and some steroids to fight allergy induced asthma. I'm hoping that somehow my body has adapted to it's new country and will not react as strongly this year. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Well, that's about all I've got. I hope you all had a nice Easter. We celebrated the day by eating delicious Mexican food courtesy of the McCowns. Nothing says Easter like refried beans. Until next time, have a great week!

Marburg

Hello all! I have a challenge for you. Try to remember what you did every day last week. Not every little thing, just a few highlights from each day. Take your time, I can wait.

How'd you do? Did you remember something from every day? I'm asking because every Monday night I turn to Brenda and say "What did we do last week?". Surprisingly, it takes a while for us to remember something from each day. I'm happy to say, however, that we were able to come up with at least one or two things from every day last week. Therefore, I feel that I am now adequately prepared to tell you about our exciting Germanic experiences from the past 7 days. (Or at least the ones we remember.)

On Wednesday, I ate at my first döner kebab restaurant. My friend Michael and I had been discussing going to the "döner around the cörner" for months and finally decided to do it on Wednesday. A döner kebab is a traditional Turkish dish that often includes lamb and is served with various garnishes on pita. Due to the high Turkish population, döner kebab restaurants can be found in most towns in Germany. The meal was delicious and I look forward to taking my parents there once they arrive next month.

Yesterday, Brenda and I went to Marburg to visit my former German teacher, Dorota, and her boyfriend, Yoan. They came to Brenda's most recent performance of Orlando Furioso and afterwards invited us up to Marburg for a day trip. Since Brenda and I are always looking for an opportunity to see another city in Germany, we happily made the trip.

Marburg is a college town. It is home to the oldest protestant university in the world. Its population (students included) numbers somewhere around 80,000. It is also an extremely old and beautiful city. To me, Marburg looked exactly like what I thought Germany would look like before we moved here. It has cobblestone streets, old buildings, a castle, a river running through the middle of town and some very impressive churches. We toured two gorgeous churches, one of which was St. Elizabeth's Church (visible in the picture below) which was built in the 1200s.

The building on the left half of the picture above is Marburg's Rathaus (aka City Hall).

There are a lot of narrow walking paths (above) in Marburg designed for quick pedestrian travel throughout the city.

The tiny tower you see in the distance is Rapunzel's tower from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

Marburg made a very good impression on me. I can easily imagine having gone to college there, especially considering the cost. (Tuition is 250 euro per semester and you can take as many classes as you like.) Brenda and I are very grateful to Dorota and Yoan for taking the time to show us around their town. It is a beautiful city and I would recommend it to any high school senior considering going to college.

Well, friends, I must call it a night. Just a heads up, next week's entry may come a day late. I have my final performance of Parsifal next Monday and so the blog may have to wait a day. Brenda has her final Orlando Furioso performance this Wednesday and we found out one of her colleagues is sick. That should make things a little more interesting. I'll be sure to tell you all about that next week. Until then, have a great week!

Fromage

Hey all! It's Monday once again and time for me to get you up to speed on the goings on of Chenda. You may remember from last week's post that Brenda went to Paris for an audition. Well, as I predicted, she ate a baguette. And some cheese. And a croissant. Oh yeah, she also sang an audition for a company (that shall not be named) that was interested in her for a specific role. We found out today that the company really liked her singing and thought she would be perfect for the role. The downside, however, is the company has decided not to do that opera after all but they'll keep Brenda in mind for future things. Hey, at least she got to eat some French cheese.

Speaking of Brenda, she is healthy once again. She got well just in time to enjoy the sunny, 65 degree weather we had on Friday. Spring is definitely on its way to Frankfurt and we're really excited about it.

I had my last German class on Friday. We spent the first half an hour taking a test and the last 3 hours eating a bunch of homemade food and chewing the fat as it were. As the party began to unwind and we all started saying our goodbyes, I was surprised to realize just how much I had grown to like my classmates. I can't imagine a scenario in the future where I will be in a class with 10 people from 10 different countries all stumbling through a common (and mostly unknown) language. It was a very enriching and enjoyable experience and I am thankful for it.

Brenda had her 8th performance of Orlando Furioso on Saturday and I had my 3rd Parsifal yesterday. Both shows went very well. We both get about a week and a half off until our next performances. I'm not entirely sure what we'll do during that time but I'm sure there will be several trips to the gym in there somewhere. Whatever we end up doing I'll be sure to tell you about it. Until then, have a great week!

This entry is rated PG

Hello all! Happy Monday. I hope you all had a delightful weekend. Brenda and I have been having a fine time here in Frankfurt as of late. That said, Brenda is once again sick. It seems her body doesn't want to be in good health when she has to perform. Brenda had to sing on both Friday and Sunday with a head cold. Don't worry, she was still amazing.

I started my last week of German classes today. It has been a lot of fun getting to know everyone in my incredibly diverse class as well as learning some German along the way. I will certainly miss many aspects of my German class and I'm sure I will dream about all of those things as I sleep in next Monday.

When Brenda and I were at the the airport meeting Laura a few weeks ago, we came across a gigantic example of something you would never see in the US.

We saw this poster a couple of different places. I took this snapshot in the subway at the airport. I should have had Brenda stand in the picture so you could get a sense of how big the poster was. Basically, the advertisement took up most of the wall from floor to ceiling. The big lettered text to the right of the charming young girl translates as "What now, dear parents?". In the smaller text below, it says you can find out the answers to 55 questions about raising a child in a special booklet that will be distributed free with the Die Zeit newspaper.

Since moving to Germany, there have been many times that I have thought "Living in Germany is a lot like living in America except I don't understand what anyone is saying and the beer is better." Then, I come across a giant toddler giving me the bird and I'm reminded that we're living in a country that doesn't always do things like I'm used to them being done.

We have a guest staying with us tonight, another friend of ours here on an audition tour. And speaking of auditions, Brenda is going to Paris tomorrow for an audition and she'll be there a whole day. She may not get to take in all of the sites but she can probably eat a baguette or whatever it is they do in Paris. I'll have to go with her one of these days and find out. Anyway, it's time to hit the hay. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next Monday!